Embrace the Clouds

I don't know about you, but I'm an on and off again person.

When the sun is shining for days on end, I ask for rain.

When the clouds hover over in hopes of rain, I long for the sun.

I think God must understand because he gives me enough of both.

It's been a little overcast this weekend with clouds you enjoy at the beach...the clouds that block the direct rays and usher in the wind...the kind that make you comfortable, so comfortable in fact that you remain too long and yearn for sweet relief from the burn.

Too much sun can burn.  Too much rain can flood.

My thoughts are swirling everywhere today.  I'm a bit melancholy over many things.

Do I need to hide myself from the storm and rest awhile or do I need a little more of the sun SON?

I'm glad my Father knows what I have need of before I ask Him. 

Looking for comfort today, I found these words...

"Moses said to the people, do not be afraid, God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.  The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was."  Exodus 20:21

"Embrace the cloud and thick darkness because that is where I am."

I read so much that I don't know where this came from (Either Beth Moore or Anne Graham Lotz), but I know that I need it today, "Look toward the desert of emptiness, dryness and weakness and glimpse His glory in the clouds."

Today I'll Choose to Embrace the Clouds.  I don't want to miss HIS GLORY! 

Bonnie

P.S.  Praying for a new laptop.  I have photos and projects to reveal!  ugh.....

Second Row, Piano Side: Summer Camp, Part II

GA District Summer Camp

"The Bell"- wake-up calls, mealtimes, activities, and chapel.  Always stolen the last night of camp.

Cold Showers- no hot water until the 80's.

Learning to Swim- at the public pool in Adrian, Georgia-with the girls because we didn't believe in "Mixed Bathing" (I did wash my hair in the pool a couple of times).

Morning and Evening Chapel in an Open Tabernacle-swatting gnats and no AC.

Morning Hikes with Bro. Paul (children's camp)

"Little Tabernacle"-since torn down.

Ethel Anderson 1, 2, 3, 4.

The First Kiss (I was 13 and hated it!  Ran back to the dorm and cried)

Girls Dorm 1 and Falling in Love for the first time.

The Kiss (beyond the sign that read, "No PDA" and loved it:))  Getting caught for PDA and hated it:(

Fighting with girls who would later become some of my best summer friends.

Fighting with girls over boys who would disapper from my life like a vapor.

Making great friends and saying goodbye, to some I never saw again.

Getting saved at an altar, while kneeling on a sandy, concrete floor. 

Waves of revival lasting into the early morning.

Candlelight Communion.

Campfire services.

Prayer and Praise with hands uplifting high.

Total Surrender.

A HOLY place where I came to embrace a personal God, the place where mama and daddy's religion became faith to me.

I have since questioned, doubted, and often shaken my fists in the face of a good God...

but my mind often wanders back to the summer of '73 when I came to know Jesus, to '75 when I knew full-surrender, to '77 when I knew, that I knew, that I knew.

I no longer attend camp meetings...I no longer volunteer for service there...

 I no longer feel at home there...

 but when by choice I visit I am keenly aware of the presence of a Holy God,

and the mere sand that I stand upon is Holy Ground. 

Book Review: Choosing to SEE by Mary Beth Chapman

In May 2008, Mary Beth Chapman, wife of recording artist, Steven Curtis Chapman and family experienced the most incredibly, devastating loss imagined-the loss of Maria, their bouncy, beautiful Asian butterfly.  The story is real and raw.

Mary Beth speaks with such candor and frankness that makes me feel like I know her.  I read with intensity and a heavy heart as she tells the story of the horrific pain of losing a child. It is the story of a family who fights to find light in the darkness, peace in the pain, and triumph over death.  I think I cried as much for Will who feels more pain and guilt than any young man should know.

As a parent, I can't imagine. 

As a sibling, a big sister, a little sister, stuck in the middle, the emotions of our own family tragedy, run deep.  I recall the sounds of the accident, the smells of the ER and the blood, the sight of a lifeless body.  I recall a home without laughter and noise. With each written page, my own pain is resurrected to grieve with this family in their loss.

I am inspired by the faith of this family who dared to embrace the pain with real emotions and honesty.  A Family Who Chose to SEE that God is present in the incredibly difficult places.  That he often reveals Himself through...

                         a single blue-colored petal....

                   a ladybug...

                               a butterfly...

                                                a little angel sent to remind them that the view is

                                           Better from the top.

 

 I can promise you that this read will leave you longing to reach out to those you love, to hold them a little tighter and cherish each moment.

Thank you Mary Beth for sharing your story with the world.  We are better for having known you!

(BTW, I am a Steven Curtis Chapman fan from the early days.  My daughter and I made memories singing along loudly to The Great Adventure!)

Mad As a Wet Setting Hen

As my mama used to say, "I'm mad as a wet setting hen!"

I had a computer-crash and have been unable to blog for going on two weeks.

I look at all your fabulous finds and I want to scream!  Ugh!!!!

I don't know where I lived before finding a home in blogland. 

Please don't forget me!

I've borrowed my husband's work computer to see what everyone has been creating and Wow! 

I have been busy with a few projects myself. 

I'll give you a little hint...

It's red, white and blue of many colors:0

To be revealed...